West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-10-28
HOW MILLIoNAIRES ARE BLACK
MAILED BY A vENAL PRESS.

Mr.. j. n. Seymour Is a successful
Wall street operator who, in circles
likely to be best informed, is reput-
ed to be worth five millions of money,
He buys and sells stocks on the n.
Y. Exchange, and fools who risk
their money on the fluctuations OF
the market fall victims to his better
knowledge and superior sagaeity.
He has been so successful that when
it becomes known that he is buying
a particular stock, its price rises
rapidly and purchasers are numer-
Gus and eager;-he then sells; or,
in the suggestive phrase of the
street,-"unloads" When it be-
comes known that he is selling a
particular stock, its price falls and
he often buys it back for very much
less than he has sold it at. Mr..
Seymour is accredited as being one
of the few Wall street operators who
keep faith and, within the circle
of his intimate associates, he is
very popular and is trusted. He
has invested largely in gold and sill
yer mines, and has developed some
properties that have proved i'm
mensely profitable. Others of them
were not remunerative. In some
cases he made vast sums of money
by working the NINE" and in other
cases he found a profit in working
the stock" The credulous public
frequently buy shares in an enter
prise that is worthless as readily as
in one which is valuable, and it is
not unlikely that Mr.. Seymour has
oftentimes "unloaded" the stock in
a mine which proved unremunera-
tive.
The Tortilita Mine, in Arizona,
was first promoted by gentlemen
who had implicit faith in its value.
Subsequently its mana EN- ent
changed hands aud the new parties,
by dint of advertising, unlOaded a
very large amount of their stock on
a too credulOus public. 1t is
strange, but true, that there are
fools enough in this country to buy
whatever is extensively advertised.
The Louisiana Lottery is undOubt-
edly a greater swindle than any
mining bubble ever floated, but sim
pletOns are sufficiently numerous for
its owners to net a profit of perhaps
a million annually, and it is not sur
prising that shares in the TOrtilita
found an eager market.
The n. Y. Herald, seeking noto-
riety, exposed the facts about this
Arizona mine, but not content with
the truth it went out of its way to
connect Mr.. Seymour with the enter
prise and to publish the falsehOod
that he was one of the persons en-
gagged in the swindle. Thereupon
he wrote to the editor stating %
that he never had the slightest con-
nection with, or interest in the Tor
tilita mine; and ~ that he had
been recently threatened with an at
tack by the Herald unless he would
pay blackmail. His letter was dig
nitied and eminently proper. In
stead of retracting the falsehood it
had published; instead of Fastening
to make such PREPARATION as it was
able to offer; instead of doing as any
honorable journalwould be glad to do
when betrayed into an injustice, the
Herald with extreme impertinence
advises Mr.. Seymour ito send the
name of this blackmailer to its
office" and instead of retracting the
falsehOod attempts to give Mr.. Sey-
mOur increased invidiOus notoriety
by printing in one of its columns, in
the largest type used in the paper,
the following headlines: "Those
Arizona Frauds. Victims by the
Hundreds. Seymour's Wildcat
Schemes" These headlines were
designed to leave an impression on
the mind that new facts were adj
duced to connect Mr.. Seymour with
some scandalous transaction, and
yet, although followed by two col
umns of inuendo and adroit state
ment, there is not one word to justi-
fy what the Herald had said of him.
The Conduct of the Herald is sim
ply disgraceful.
Gentlemen refuse to associate
with Bennett; he is not admitted to